Lifting-jack for automobiles or other vehicles.



W. G. MILLER.

LIFTING JACK FOR AUTOMOBILES OR OTHER VEHICLS.

APPLICAIION FILED MAR. 25 I916.

Patented May 22, 1917.

m: NORRIS PETERS cu.ruurflurnoqwunmamm n. c. 1

WIL'BUR G. MILLER,

or GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA.

LIFTING-JACK FOR AUTOMOBILES OR OTHER VEHICLES.

Application filed March 25, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILBUR Gr. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Forks, in the county of Grand Forks and State of North Dakota, have invented a new and useful Lifting-Jack for Automobiles or other Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lifting jacks for motor cars and other vehicles, and is especially designed to provide a strong, durable, and easily portable device that is capable of adaptation to vehicles of different whee]. di ameter, and one which will also serve as a truck whereby to move a vehicle about partly on its own wheels and partly on said truck as a support.

My invention contemplates the employment of a lever of the first class, having a power arm and a weight arm so arranged that at the beginning of a lift, where the weight is lifted with comparative rapidity, the power arm shall have a longer leverage and be operated by the pull of the operator, while toward the end of the lift, when the distance becomes smaller through which the weight is lifted, the power arm with the long leverage may be changed to a thrust arm with a comparatively small leverage, in carrying the load arm with its weight past the pivot point or fulcrum of the lever.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means for automatically and easily locking the jack with the weight lifted, when desired, and just as easily releasing it.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, taken on the line w--y, with the lever raised as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of one of my lifting arms; and

Fig. 4 is a view of one of my lifting mem bers.

Fig. 5 is a View partly in section of one of the upright supports.

In my device I provide a base or platform 1, which is supplied with rollers or casters 2. These casters should be of comparatively large size, and I prefer to mount them, extended, in most instances from the sides of the frame so as to bring the frame as near as possible to the floor, whereby cert e lne in lifti g a ained.- h

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 191W.

Serial No. 86,697.

rear member of this frame I have shown as being formed of an angled member whereby a broader base, or rather three points of support well distributed, are provided, one of the supporting casters being mounted at the angle.

Rising from this frame I provide uprights 4, as shown, each upright consists of a piece of Uiron 0. iron U-shaped in cross section or channel iron bolted or riveted to the main frame below at 5, and each provided on its upper edge with a series of notches at 6 arranged in ascending order. I have shown three of these notches, but ohviously there 1nay be any number. Each of these notches receivesa pin 7 which constitutes the fulcrum of my lever. These pins may beadjusted in any of the notches, as desired, to accommodate axles of varying height. The pins 7 constitute, as I have intimated, the fulcrum of a certain lever or levers. This is lever 8, which I have shown made of the parts 9 riveted or boltedto a (shaped member 10, though the members 9 and 10 might obviously be made integral. The uprights are so arranged that that part of the lever which is nearest the pin on the power side may be swung into the space between the walls of said upright when the lever is depressed into its lowest position, and this serves to permit carrying the support to a position wherever the center of gravity has passed its highest point and is back of the pivot. The part 9 of the lever is then in contact with the interior of the front wall of the U-shaped upright 4. I make the notches bent or curved, as shown. This helps to prevent the pins from jumping out.

I may curve these notches in either direction. I have shown them curved forward.

I may provide in the'front-bar of my frame'l notches 2, into which the lever 9 may fit when the load is in raised position. These notches 2 may serve-as stops, too, for said lever.

Each of the members 9 is provided at its free end with a curved yoke 11. Each of these yokes, which are alike, consists of the hook 12 and an upper retaining part 13. Preferably I provide for each of these hooks a curved cap or saddle adapted to ride freely thereon and to move with the axle or other piece supported. I have shown in .F 3 this saddle p q ided With ball een;

ings 14 whereby theaxle of the lifted machine may be carried easily and without marring or scarring around the inside of the more or less arcuate contour of the lifting jack. Each of these members 9 is substantially rectangled in shape, as shown, and the pins 7 are near the curved yoke ends. The parts 12 may be arcuate in shape.

The part 10 consists of the divergent members 10, which unite to a head or sleeve 15 which may be integral with such members 10 or may be secured in place. Into this sleeve I may thrustthe pole or stick 16 provided at one end with a handle 17 and at the inner end with the pin 18. This handle serves to increase the leverage in lifting, and moves freely in the sleeve 15. After the operation of the lifting, with the full leverage, has been consummated and the inner parts of the members 9 brought to a substantially perpendicular position, the pole or rod 16 is thrust inward; the thrust is effective against the parts 9' of the levers 9, and serves to lift the axle 19 of the machine a little higher and a little past the pin 7, as indicated in Fig. 4, so that a line drawn from the center of gravity of the axle will pass beyond the pin 7 and thus sustain the load securely. It will be noted, in Fig. 4, that when the load represented by axle 19 has been lifted home, the lifting member 9 has carried the load just past the pivot point indicated by the pin 7, so that the load is secure on the truck and cannot be lowered until the lifting member has been raised by a pull on the lever.

It will be observed that my jack, as indi cated above, constitutes a truck whereon an automobile may be moved about. Suppose the front axle has been lifted and the wheels removed, it will be seen that by pushing or guiding the truck the car may be moved about on the truck wheels, and the rear wheels of the car to any desired position for work or otherwise.

It is apparent that the length of the part 9' must be sufficient to enable the user to trundle the truck beneath an automobile far enough for my lever to get a grip on the axle. The overhang in this respect is greater in some machines than in' others, but this must always be provided for. Furthermore, by providing two such arms I make the support steady, particularly as they are situated some distance from each other. That is, a car whose front axle is supported on my jack is supported at four points, namely, on its two rear wheels and on the two points of contact with the front axle.

Furthermore, the ability to thrust the pole 16 into the lifting lever when said lever has a change from the comparatively vertical position shown in: Fig. 1 to a substantially horizontal position, provides means whereby said pole may be easily and quickly get out of the way. Of course the pin 18 may be omitted from this pole if desired. 7 V

In using my device, I mount the lever in that one ofthe notches which is nearest the lifting point of the load. I then wheel my truck up under the axle or whatever load is to be lifted and bear down on the lever. This bearing down causes the. center of gravity of the load with reference to the lever to shift; that is, there is a tendency for the truck and the car, if a motor car is being treated, to approach each other. Usually, on account of its lighter weight, the truck will have a tendency to creep toward or under the aXle being lifted, though, of course, under some circumstances this might be reversed.

It will be seen that 1 have invented an economical, eflicient lifting jack, and one which is not liable to get out of order, which is easily operated, and one, moreover, which has no partsthatare liable to get lost.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a lifting device, in combination, a truck, a jack mounted on said truck, comprising a bent lifting lever, saidlever having on its lifting end a hook and a retaining part, the hook being curved whereby during lifting the truck and the load may approach, the one the other, pins on said lever, and a support adapted to receive the pins, said support beingchannel shaped, and adapted to receive within the channel, the portion of the lever between the bend and the pivot, whereby the load may, by a thrust, be carriedv beyond the center of support into locking position, the front edge of the load carrying portion being adapted to be carried beyond the pivot.

2. In a lifting jack for motor cars, in

combination, a: truck, supporting channel iron posts on said truck, notches on the upper ends of said posts, a lifting lever, pins mounted on said lever adapted to enter said notches, said lever'having parts at right angles to another part, and hooks onthe weight end of said lever, whereby when the power end is depressed the weight end of the lever with its lead is lifted and the ends of said lever are thrust into the channel-iron supports where the final, act of the lever is to carry the load into locking position behind the pivots.

3. In a lifting jack for motor cars, in combination, a lifting lever, a truckcarryin supports for said lever, curved hooks on the lifting end of said lever, and curved 1. a

friction reducing saddles fitting on said hooks whereby when the lever is operated the load may slide easily onsaid hooks.

4. In a lifting jack for motor cars, a

branches with a right-angle bend, a lifting hook on the end of each of said branches, a pivot pin near said lifting hook, and channel-shaped supports for said pins, the supports opening toward the lever end whereby the bends of the levers may be carried into the supports and be stopped by the backs thereof.

5. In a lifting jack for motor cars, a Y-shaped lever provided in each of its branches with a right-angle bend, a lifting hook on the end of each of said branches, a load supporting saddle for each hook, a pivot pin near said lifting hook, and channel-shaped supports for said pin, the sup ports opening toward the lever end whereby Copies the bends of the levers may be carried into the supports and be stopped by the backs thereof.

6. In a lifting jack for motor cars, a (shaped lever provided in each of its branches with a right-angle bend, a lifting hook on the end of each of said branches, a roller bearing in the curve of each hook, a load supporting saddle carried by said bearing, and channel-shaped supports for said pin, the supports opening toward the lever end whereby the bends of the levers may be carried into the supports and be stopped by the backs thereof.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature.

WILBUR G. MILLER.

01' this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

